


In The Heat of The Moment

by projectileemotion



Category: Founder of Diabolism, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Madam Lan is a robot, Not Beta Read, Pre-Apocalypse, Regret, Superheroes, Teleportation, Time Travel, Umbrella Academy AU, [redacted tag here], minor WWX appearance, no surnames, sangcheng week 2019 Day 07 supposedly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 12:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19151389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/projectileemotion/pseuds/projectileemotion
Summary: “Huaisang…I was stupid. I attempted the impossible, without an exit plan.I don’t plan on leaving like that ever again.” Not in this second lifetime.





	In The Heat of The Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Laoye - lord (of the house)  
> Shaoye - young master
> 
> Thank you [Joythea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joythea/pseuds/Joythea) for helping me with these terminologies and for providing a little bit of insight about dynamics in Chinese families and households. ^^

Wanyin does not really have time to waste, but he decided to waste a little bit of it anyway.  
  
It is the second day after his return in the Academy, back to the family he once left, back in the world he once knew. It is also the second day since their father died. But only one, maybe two, or three in the Academy care about that.  
  
One of them is at in the parlour doing housekeeping, as expected from the family’s steward. He stands on a stool right next to the fireplace, dusting a large portait of Wanyin himself.  
  
Both the painting and the steward radiate from the morning sun seeping through the window. Wanyin, a boy of fifteen years old, knew which looked better in the sunlight.  
  
Still, he steps inside the main receiving area, looking at his own portrait from afar.  
  
The portrait was probably commissioned after his untimely departure from the Umbrella Academy. Wanyin was painted sitting proudly, as if staring down at whoever would be looking at him in the eye, despite only being an adolescent in a school uniform.  
  
Wanyin found the depiction pretty accurate, down to himself wearing the Academy’s school uniform _again._ Fifteen years also passed since he left, yet his old clothes were kept clean and pristine, ready at any moment he would have come back home.  
  
  
  
“I didn’t think Guangshan ever liked me. Or Qionglin-didi. It’s abnormally thoughtful of our dear father to put up a memorial statue of him before the temple.”  
  
_Guangyao told him yesterday that Qionglin faced a horrible death. The Umbrella Academy has seven adopted male children, all born at the same time, with six of them having special powers._  
  
_Qionglin, birth and codename Number 06, died at the age of seventeen, while on a mission. The Academy lost another member just two years after Wanyin disappeared._  
  
“You both are still important members of this family.”  
  
Wanyin had never found Huaisang’s voice this pleasant to hear. It is probably the nostalgia that throws Wanyin off a little. However, he does not believe any word Huaisang said.  
  
“You mean disposable,” he counters. Qionglin certainly did not deserve to be in this kind of family, he thinks.

Huaisang turns to Wanyin and rebukes, “Please don’t speak like that of the late Laoye. He is still your father.” Seeing the steward’s face for the first time in a long while sends more butterflies in Wanyin’s stomach.  
  
  
The steward missed his step on the stool and stumbles.  
  
  
In a flash, purple light charges and the boy jumps out, ten steps from where he was been, to break the fall. Wanyin caught Huaisang from behind, by the waist on one hand and by the arm with the other. Both of them share the same height, but for Wanyin, the steward felt smaller, which made sense.  
  
_At some point in Wanyin’s life, he was a taller man._  
  
“You should be more careful, Huaisang. You’re lucky I’m the one who caught you.”  
  
Wanyin, birth and codename Number 05, has the ability to perform spatial jumps. In other words, he only needs to teleport to catch someone fast.

  
  
Realizing how close they are to each other, Wanyin pulls both of them up and backs away slightly to give Huaisang some air. Huaisang bows in gratitude for the boy.  
  
“Thank you, Wanyin-shaoye.”  
  
“Wanyin…I never really heard that name spoken.” _Xichen and the others still kind of called him Number 05 yesterday.  
  
_“You weren’t there when your mother decided on your names after all,” Huaisang replies.  
  
Decided? That’s not something their adoptive mother _could_ really do, could she?  
  
“Number 02 must really love his name if Madame Lan gave it to him.”  
  
“Wangji-shaoye cherishes his name very much.” Huaisang’s lips curved upward and Wanyin felt like he also toppled from the stool. On one hand he would have fallen completely if that smile was actually for him and not regarding his adoptive brother. On the other hand, Wanyin wonders why the hell he is experiencing a teenager’s infatuation, _when he is supposedly way past that.  
  
Wanyin only knew of their names from an autobiography Number 07, now Guangyao, wrote. He found the “best-seller” book in the ruins of a bookstore, in a world that was in total annihilation. And will be in several days, if Wanyin does not act fast to change the timeline.  
__  
Wanyin worked hard to return at this very time, to prepare all of them for the impending doom._  
  
_However in the heat of the moment, he was close to forgetting all of that a little, with Huaisang looking at him up close. If there is disbelief also reflecting in the other’s eyes, then he must be really back in this world and this is not anymore a fever dream that lingered for decades._  
  
  
  
Wanyin’s eyes follow Huaisang as he picks up the stool and his cleaning tools before disappearing for a while to put them both back in the utility room.  
  
Huaisang has never aged a day since Wanyin left. The last time Wanyin saw Huaisang, he used to wear suits, more typical for a butler. But ever since yesterday, it seems that he has been wearing more traditional clothes. Even though the style is out of date, the clothes did not look bad on him. It was quite the opposite. _Huaisang looked like he also got lost in time himself like Wanyin did._ Did Huaisang pick these clothes himself?  
  
When the steward returns to the parlour, he offers Wanyin a seat on the gilded sofa. “Wanyin-shaoye, you should sit. This is your home.” The boy beams, returning that gentle smile from earlier. “Wanyin…I really like the sound of that.”  
  
Wanyin ushers the steward to sit next to him. There is really no need for such formalities anymore, not when the master of the household has already departed. But Huaisang decides to sit on the similarly gilded armchair perpendicular to the sofa instead.  
  
The boy slouches on the cushion, _like it was the most comfortable thing he experienced in a long time,_ while the steward remains decorous.  
  
“You have been gone for fifteen years.”  
  
Wanyin looks up the ceiling, a little bit spaced out. “…It was _thrice longer_ than fifteen years for me,”  
  
Huaisang tilts his head, “What do you mean by ‘thrice longer’?”  
  
Wanyin groans after the events from yesterday, “Long story. The others thought I was going mad when I told them.”  
  
  
  
“…Everyone else is older and taller now. But still a bunch of assholes.” All of Guangshan’s adopted children would be thirty years old by now. _Under normal circumstances, Wanyin should also be the same._  
  
Huaisang dismisses Wanyin’s word choice towards his brothers as their typical family dynamic. Even after fifteen years, Wanyin is still one of the sharper tongued brothers, if not the most cutting. It is both nice and sad to see that there are things that have not changed.  
  
But certainly, one is not completely the same as before, not after being gone for almost two decades. Remembering this family, Wanyin was reminded of the good old days (?) and laughed bitterly. He admits only to himself that he does miss this shithole that was once his home.  
  
He recalls that fateful morning at the Academy, fifteen years ago in their time. He was young, and so were his brothers. They would not know their current names yet. And they were all called down by Madame Lan to join their father for breakfast.  
  
_  
  
\---  
  
It was supposedly an ordinary day for all of them. There was a song playing on the record while seven children grabbed their own seats around the rectangular wooden table. They sat three against three, with Number 07 the only one seated face to face with Guangshan. Number 05 sat between Numbers 06 and 07 while Numbers 01 and 03 sat closest to their father on both sides of the dining table. They were all well-behaved…except for one who brought something that was not allowed on the table, or anywhere.  
  
From his side, Number 05 did not miss Number 04 across him crouching under. And he was not the only one who caught Number 04 in the act either, if the glare that Number 02 was shooting at the sneaky brother beside him was any indication. What kind of torture did Guangshan put Number 04 through?  
  
  
  
But enough of other concerns, there was something else that Number 05 wanted to discuss.  
_  
_“Baba, I have a question.”  
  
Like any good father, Guangshan did not even bother to make eye contact, “Can this be postponed later, Number 05? You are interrupting my music.”  
  
“Baba.” Number 05 called louder that Number 03 mouthed ‘Number 05, could you shut up?’  
  
“Number 05, I am warning you, do not ruin my mood.” Guangshan stressed. Number 06 was tugging his sleeve, shaking his head, begging him to stop pressing their father in the meantime.  
  
The rest of the children were already giving him varying looks (Number 04 smiled at him mischievously), but their beloved father still did not give a damn.  
  
The music droned on and it was getting louder in his head.  
  
Irritation took over and Number 05 stabbed the table with his butter knife, startling absolutely everyone.  
  
When Number 05 drove the butter knife into the dining table, the ringing was rather too strong in Number 07’s ears. He flinched to the side, avoiding the source of the sound.  
  
  
  
“I want to time travel.”  
  
  
  
For sure, that got Guangshan’s attention._  
_  
“Time travel?” Guangshan laughed mockingly. Number 05 furrowed until the older man’s laughter dried out. “Do you have any idea of what you’re talking about?”  
  
Number 05 argued, “If I can do spatial jumps, then I can also do time travelling, right?”  
  
Guangshan shook his head, “You’re obsessed with yourself, Number 05. And you read too much books to show off.”  
  
Number 05 did not dare to deny that. “Yes, Baba! Because I wanna know more about my powers." Anyone who was born with special powers would naturally be curious about themselves.  
  
“That is my job to find out, not yours. You behave or I will lock you up,” Guangshan warned.  
  
At hearing those words, Number 04 whimpered, his face changing from mischief to absolute horror in an instant. Number 07 looked at his own feet. Number 06 turned to Number 04 with worry, while Number 02 shifted at their father before looking back at his own plate. Number 01, as their leader, decided to ease the situation.  
  
“Number 05, let us all eat first and we can talk about this later.”  
  
The fifth one snapped back, “You’re not always the boss of me, Number 01.”  
  
Shocked, Number 01 explained himself, “I only said we should eat first. Everyone must be hungry already.”  
  
“I can rumor him back to sleep, Baba,” Number 03 leaned to Guangshan, getting a protest from Number 01. Number 02 only sighed through his nose.  
  
  
  
Number 05 raised an eyebrow at the third brother before turning back to their father.  
  
“I train harder than everyone else here. I’ve been practicing my spatial jumps, and you said it yourself, I’m already good at it! I wanna learn time travelling next.”  
  
Guangshan answered, “Time travel is different from spatial jumps. One does not just meddle with time. You might not come back in one piece.”  
  
“With practice, I can also be good at this. I’m not afraid, Baba,” the fifth brother insisted.  
  
“Time travel is out of the question.”  
  
“But!”  
  
“Every one of you will only do as I say,” Guangshan finally gave his ultimatum.  
  
  
  
“Anyone who steps out of bounds will be punished.  
  
Do not even think about attempting the impossible.”  
  
Aside from the record playing, the entire dining hall was still. Number 05 remained standing on his spot. The master of the household carried on with his music, while the rest of the children were on their toes. They resumed their breakfast, with the exception of Number 02 eyeing Number 05 and then at the butter knife that had pierced the wooden tabletop, gauging what the fifth brother would be doing next.  
  
Number 05 started to run for the door.  
  
Guangshan stood up, “Number 05, you’re not excused! Come back here!”  
  
Number 05 turned back to look at all of his brothers (Number 06 mouthing ‘Please, don’t!’) and then back at Guangshan.  
  
He gave the older man a sly grin and in a flash of purple light, disappeared._

 

 _  
_ \---  
  
“You did not part in good terms with Guangshan-laoye,” The steward calls Wanyin out with a sterner voice, “and you left a permanent mark on the dining table.”   
  
Wanyin chuckles, “The only brother left who is still positive with him is Number 01. I thought Number 03 was close with him too, until yesterday.”  
  
_Despite how their last communication went, Wanyin does not really feel anything strongly about their father. Meanwhile, Zixuan called Guangshan a monster right in front of his ashes during the funeral. The guy must have finally realized that he had built his own life with lies. It will not be long until Xichen also gets hit with the truth.  
_

 

“Anyway, time travel is a crapshoot," Wanyin explained.

"Jumping forward was a piece of cake, but jumping backwards was another challenge. I only succeeded jumping to the past _yesterday_.”

_He tried countless times to jump back to the past, but it was not that simple. Time was mainly designed to move forward after all. Wanyin learned this the hard way._

  
Huaisang nodded slowly for Wanyin to go on but the boy went quiet.  
  
“Wanyin-shaoye, what happened to you that day?”

Huaisang is there asking about him when everyone else yesterday just dismissed him.  
  
  
  
  
\---  
  
_When Number 05 jumped back in, he was already outside the Academy, away from everyone.  
  
While pacing the sidewalk, he tried to jump to the future for the first time.  
  
He found himself four years ahead, and he saw the changes around the town. Everyone was wearing different clothes. There were new stores that replaced the ones he was familiar with. He was sure that the song playing on a nearby radio was a new wave of music.  
  
  
His first time travel was a success.  
  
  
To practice controlling his jumps, Number 05 focused onto leaping only one more year forward.  
  
He landed on the same spot, but in a different season. He checked a nearby calendar and it was fifteen months from the previous jump. It was more than a year, but he still came pretty close as he intended. With further experimentation, he would eventually get his coordinates right.  
  
Exhilaration rushed through his veins, he felt so proud proving all of them wrong.  
  
“Impossible, my ass.”  
  
To further stretch his new-found ability, Number 05 decided to jump ten years.  
__  
  
  
That was when it all went wrong.  
  
  
  
_

\---  
“Do you mind me asking? How come you did not age?”

“I did. I grew old. I told you. I was gone for more than fifteen years.”  
  
Without breaking eye contact with the steward, the boy paused for half a minute to count the lost time. 

“I got stuck in the future for forty-five years. (Huaisang, ‘what?’)  
  
When I finally returned yesterday, I made a miscalculation somewhere and my physical body regressed in age. Now I am my fifteen year old self again.”     
  
“I…I don’t understand.”  
  
“I know.” Wanyin sighs. The exasperation from yesterday is crawling back to him. “It’s a hard thing to chew.” 

“Wanyin-shaoye, if you jumped forward at fifteen but got trapped for forty-five years before coming back here, are you saying that in reality _you are_ _now older than all of your brothers_?”

Wanyin nodded.  
  
More questions started to bubble in Huaisang’s throat. “Forgive me. How is that ---“

Wanyin cuts him off. 

  
  
  
_“You were all gone when I jumped forward to the future. Everything was in ruins. The Academy was a pile of dirt. Every house and every structure was crumbled. There were only debris and ashes all around._  
  
_I was the only one alive. I was the only one who lived on.”_

 

And all of the bubbles bursted. Huaisang shakes his head slightly and Wanyin stands up.

_Wanyin’s patience wore thin yesterday, trying to explain everything to his brothers. His irritation peaked later on in the evening, almost yelling at Guangyao at a desperate attempt to convince at least one person that he was not making anything up of what was gonna happen in the world in a few days._

It seems that Huaisang does not believe him either after all.  
  
But Huaisang chases his wrist and grabs it gently for the other to stay put. “Wanyin-shaoye, I am only confused and so are your brothers. But I don’t think little of what you went through. Not at all.”

_The memories of surviving as an actual boy alone in that world, would haunt Wanyin for the rest of his life, unless he stops the apocalypse from happening._

Wanyin does not look back but he does not pull his wrist away either until Huaisang lets go. His shoulders slump and he lowers his head. The steward peers in to see Wanyin’s face filled with deep regret.  
  
  
  
“Huaisang…I was stupid. I attempted the impossible, without an exit plan.  
  
I don’t plan on leaving like that ever again.” _Not in this second lifetime._  
  
  
  
The steward puts both of his hands gently on Wanyin’s wrists. “You should know that you are always welcome to stay here. It’s been a while since this house came back to life.”  
  
“…Guangshan’s death brought the Academy back to life.”  
  
“Wanyin-shaoye!”  
  
Wanyin chuckles. He never thought that he will like Huaisang chastising him.  
  
_The Umbrella Academy started to lose its former glory when Qionglin died. Nobody else was keeping them together anymore. It must have been dreary for Huaisang to be stuck with Guangshan and Madame Lan when everyone else left._  
  
  
  
“If I knew I would go back as my younger self again, I should have tried returning as a twenty five year old at least,” Wanyin snarks.  
  
“What were you like when you are” Huaisang corrects himself, “…were on your prime?”  
  
“I would have been stronger, faster, looking more badass.”  
  
Huaisang lets out a mild laugh. At the back of his mind, Wanyin decides that that laugh would also become a reason for him to carry out his mission back in the present time. He takes both of Huaisang’s hands.  
  
“Wanyin-shaoye?”

The not-teenager brings Huaisang’s fingers to his own forehead. They are not warm at all as he expected, but Wanyin would pine for those cold hands from then on.  
  
“I was a head taller too.”  
  
_Wanyin thinks of himself in his...older (or younger?) years. He had longer hair, braided on the sides, tied in a severed bun. Huaisang would have been shorter than him. If only he returned as a middle-aged man, it would have been a better picture than what it is right now between a teenage boy and his steward.  
  
  
  
_

“Wanyiiin! I thought we were in a hurry! I’m already dying in here!”  
  
Wuxian, echoes from the hallway, ruining the moment. Wanyin rolls his eyes. Nope, “Wanyin” does not have a nice ring to it coming from other people.  
  
Wuxian is the only person who can help him with today's objective, not that Wanyin misses him or anything like that.  
  
“It looks like Wuxian-shaoye is waiting for you.” The steward advises him, amused and concerned at the same time, “Knowing you two, don’t get into trouble, please.”  
  
“Tch. I’ll handle him.” _  
  
  
  
  
\---_  
  
“Getting a little adorable with our butler, haha! You must be _really_ old and alone out there, huh?” Wuxian poked Wanyin’s waist and the “boy” scowled.  
  
“Come to think of it, we still don’t know what exactly Huaisang is. Where did dear old Dad find him?”  
  
“Shut up, Number 04. Let’s just get into that lab.”

**Author's Note:**

> The redacted tag is Age-Regression/De-Aging.
> 
> 15 y.o. + 45 years stuck in the future = 60  
> WANYIN IS AN OLD MAN IN A KID'S BODY.  
> And Huaisang is...not entirely what he seems, Wanyin. :eyes:
> 
> \---
> 
> Hi guys! I am not really a fanfic writer, but I feel like this was better written.
> 
> Sangcheng Week just ended but the prompts are so great! So I thought I could still write something SC for Day 07 - Superheroes.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed that! I tried to put a bit of worldbuilding in this in case I don't get to write the main story here anytime soon. //sobs
> 
> By the way, I got the title from one of the Umbrella Academy OSTs, you can check the song here!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF-FTIs0uXM
> 
> In case anyone is curious, the boys' powers are:  
> Xichen (01) - super strength  
> Wangji (02) - [redacted useless power], trajectory curving (this boy is a knife nut)  
> Zixuan (03) - mind control ("rumoring" in their terms)  
> Wuxian (04) - communicating with the dead  
> Wanyin (05) - spatial jumps, time travel  
> Qionglin (06) + - eldritch summoning  
> Guangyao (07) - none
> 
> I will mainly draw for this crossover first, then I will see if I can really write the entire thing up. ^^
> 
> I love MDZS, The Umbrella Academy, Sangcheng and the SC community so much! <3


End file.
